THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: “The Hybrid” Recap

Last night’s episode of The vampire Diaries, The Hybrid, was not really one of my favorites, though I didn’t quite hate it. There were a lot of great moments that worked for me, but there were some that had me rolling my eyes. Let me sum up.

Basically, the episode was about Klaus creating his army, or as he lovingly refers to them, “comrades”, Elena corralling Alaric and Damon to help her find Stefan, Tyler turning into a werewolf in front of his mother, and Jeremy trying to get Matt to help him contact Vicky’s ghost. That’s it in a nutshell.

What Worked

Stefan and Klaus and the wolves – I almost started to feel for Klaus as he was trying to strike up a casual conversation with Stefan. He’s convinced that Stefan is his new best friend and he tries to act like he was concerned for Stefan, as he was carrying Ray Sutton on his shoulders for miles. I wondered if Klaus was missing his brother, Elijah.

The wolf pack – When Stefan and Klaus find the pack, you know this is going to be a blood bath. I had my eyes closed through most of it. It was like watching True Blood! Ray finally wakes up but his transformation isn’t going quite right. Klaus is observing him very closely and Stefan knows that things don’t look right. Then Ray suddenly takes off like a cannon ball through the woods. You know that’s not good, but Klaus begins to turn his attention to the others in the pack.

Tyler and mother – After Carol makes a phone call to Bill and tells him about Caroline, she tests Tyler to see if he too is vampire by adding vervain to his beverage. Tyler passes the test but notices that his coffee tastes odd. As he meets Matt at the grill, he notices the same taste in his coffee there. Matt tells him it’s vervain that they were instructed to add to the coffee. Tyler puts two and two together and confronts his mother. When she makes the mistake of calling Caroline a monster, he drags her to the cellar and locks her up as he chains himself up. It’s a full moon and he is starting to change. Yay! Mother has a decided change of her own.

Jeremy recuits Matt – Jeremy tells Matt that he sees Vicky’s ghost and that she keeps telling him she needs help. He wants to try contacting her to find out what she needs him to do, but Matt is hesitant. After thinking things through, Matt brings a box full of Vicky’s things to Jeremy’s house. As they are talking, Vicky appears and tells Jeremy that he can help her come back. Whaaat?! But wait, there’s more! After Vicky disappears, Anna pops in to tell Jeremy not to trust Vicky. I am completely interested in this story line.

Alaric, Damon and Elena – Elena is convinced that she can magically, through the power of love, bring Stefan back. She talks Alaric into going with her, but unbeknownst to her, he phones Damon and tells him to come along as backup. Alaric is not as stupid as Elena. My favorite scene comes when Alaric and Elena are resting by a lake and Damon comes along and sends her literally flying into the lake. This sent me leaping from my couch with a loud “Huzzah!” I was hoping he’d dunk her head underwater and keep it there. Or at least just to that every time she opened her mouth and whined about saving Stefan. Kudos to Alaric for showing sense enough to know that regardless of what Elena thinks, they can be killed by a pack of hybrids.

Damon and Stefan – Damon is in a fight with Ray, who is completely out of control. Just when it appears that Damon is losing the fight, Stefan comes up behind Ray and rips out his heart, killing him instantly. Later, Damon agrees to help Elena save Stafan because he see that even in his darkest moments, Stefan will not let his brother die. Damon will do no less. Bravo, Damon!

What Didn’t Work

Elena – I’m sorry, I love Nina Dobrev and think she’s a phenomenal actress. As Katherine she’s amazing! But I am so over the stupid Elena who doesn’t think anything through at all. She thinks her love can bring Stefan back, but only a mindless dolt would believe they could get past Klaus, who is, need I remind everyone, IMMORTAL! Does Elena think she could fool a centuries old, stronger than Hercules, hybrid? Does she believe she can touch his heart with her claims of love for Stefan? Klaus has no heart, for one thing. He also doesn’t know that Elena still lives, which is why his attempts to create more hybrids failed. Finally, Elena gives no thought to the people whos lives she endangers by begging them to help her. In all her claims of wanting to save Stefan, she’s completely selfish. What a heroine she appears to be when she tells Alaric and Damon that at least she won’t give up on Stefan. I don’t know how many times I screamed at my TV, “Shut up, Elena!”

That’s about the only thing that didn’t work for me in this episode. Ah-ha moments were when we find out that ‘Bill’ is Caroline’s father. Didn’t see that coming! We also find out that Bill is one of the vampire hunters descended from the old hunters that lived in Mystic Falls. Where has he been all this time? It amazes me that the parents of Mystic Falls are so willing to kill their children after finding out they are no longer human. At least Carol is feeling some remorse and tries to stop Bill.

Another surprising moment was when Klaus loses his temper after killing the entire werewolf pack. I thought for a moment that he had figured out why he couldn’t create hybrids. Again, I almost felt his loneliness. But then the camera pans the dead bodies and I was reminded what a cold-blooded killer he is. I’m a little afraid for Stefan. What will happen to him once Klaus finds out that Elena is still alive and that Stefan knew this all along?

And by the way, who’s going to stop Klaus? This season is definitely going even darker than last, and I didn’t think that was possible.